German-Iranian knowledge exchange in Tehran: 200 participants discuss river basin organizations

How can river basin management be institutionalized in Iran? And which countries and approaches can be used as good examples? At the “Workshop on River Basin Management and River Basin Organizations” held on the 5^th and 6^th of March in Tehran, around 200 German and Iranian experts exchanged views on these issues. The workshop was funded by the German Environmental Ministry (BMUB) and organized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and German Water Partnership (GWP)

The background had been the establishment of Iran’s first river basin organization (RBO) for the Zayandeh Rud catchment which will serve as example for further RBO in Iran. inter 3 has been in close contact with the relevant decision-makers and stakeholders for years, as the decision support system (DSS) that is developed in the framework of the IWRM Zayandeh Rud project will be used by the RBO after its completion. Important aspects with regard to the RBO’s design and institutional embedding, however, still need to be clarified.

At the workshop, German experts – e.g. from the Bavarian Environmental Ministry or the River Basin Community Elbe – met Iranian water experts and representatives of main water using sectors. Various examples of RBOs were presented and discussed, for example from Germany and other EU states, but also from countries with similar climatic conditions. Lena Horlemann, researcher at inter 3, presented findings from Mongolia and interfaces with the Zayandeh Rud. In small discussion groups, the workshop participants followed up on important issues like their expectations towards RBOs, or responsibilities and composition of RBOs.